


Tell the World I'm Coming Home

by LuthienLuinwe



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Depression, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suicidal Thoughts, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:07:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22054561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuthienLuinwe/pseuds/LuthienLuinwe
Summary: “You were there when you needed me,” he cursed the goddesses through gritted teeth. “Where the hell are you now?”Link returns home to Ordon Village to find he's not the same man who left it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Tell the World I'm Coming Home

**Prologue**

The cold rain pounded against him, soaking him to the bone. A massive figure loomed over him, sword pointed at his throat. One wrong move, one hesitation, and he would be dead. One wrong move, one hesitation, and the kingdom would crumble around them. He could see Zelda from the corner of his eye, a hand over her mouth. Was it over? He wasn’t sure.

Part of him, some sick, twisted part of him, was relieved by the aspect. No more fighting. No more danger. Just peace. For him, at least. 

He rolled away from the blade and the look on the Demon King’s face was full of nothing but raw, unadulterated malice. “You fight well for a ranch hand.”

Link ignored the man and waited for an opening. Ganondorf was quick, despite his size. One wrong move, and he’d have a gash in his side or a hole in his chest. One wrong move, and he could be dead before he knew what hit him. 

Panic gripped his chest, and he felt as though he could not breathe. A hand was on his shoulder, and he needed to get it off because if Ganondorf had grabbed him he didn’t stand a chance and Hyrule would fall but it would not matter because he would be dead and he shoved and he shoved hard and only the sound of his name brought him back to reality.

“Link?”

He blinked and looked across the room. A room. Not a field. No yellow barrier in sight. No demon king laughing over him. Only a small, quaint room filled with a bed and his belongings. Only Rusl standing nearby him.

Rusl.

Not Ganondorf.

Ganondorf was dead.

He had killed him…

“Link, breathe,” the man instructed, voice calm though Link must have shoved him clear across the room.

Link tried to listen to the man’s words. Tried to focus on his breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Not a battlefield. No bloodstained tunic. No shouts from a Princess. No screams from a fallen king…

Rusl hesitantly placed his hand back on Link’s shoulder, and Link relaxed under his touch. “It’s all right, Link,” the older man soothed. “You’re safe now.”

He heard footsteps coming toward the entryway, and not for the first time, Link wondered if it had been wise to agree to stay with Rusl, Uli, and their family. They had enough to worry about without him adding to the fray. He could hear the cries of the newborn girl through the curtain separating the living area from the place he was temporarily calling his own.

A gentle hand pushed the curtain back, revealing Uli and the babe. “Is everything all right?” she asked, voice gentle as it always was. 

Link glanced at Rusl, wondering what the man would say, and hoping that he would not further worry his wife.  _ No,  _ he wanted to answer.  _ Nothing is all right, and nothing ever will be again. _

He heard the mad laugh echoing in his head still.

_ Do not think this ends here. _

“A nightmare,” Rusl answered before Link could open his mouth. 

Uli nodded and gently bounced the girl, no doubt trying to calm her. It could not have been good for the child, Link could not help but think. He woke screaming more often than not, and never at a decent hour.

_ The history of Light and Shadow will be written in blood. _

“I need some air,” Link spoke when he caught his breath. It was the middle of the night, but he cared not. He felt as though the walls were closing in around him.  _ The temples were always so dark…  _

_ Do not think this ends here. _   


If Rusl or Uli protested, Link heard them not. His body was in motion before his mind caught up to him.

_ Link… I… See you later. _

The sky over Ordon was pitch black, clouds covering the stars.

_ Hero, chosen by the gods… _

Ordona’s spring lay before him before he realized where he had been headed. And why not here, where it had all started? Here, where Ilia and Colin had been taken. Here, where he’d been foolish enough to believe that the goddesses were kind and just and that he would lead a life of happiness and joy.

“You were there when you needed me,” he said through gritted teeth. “Where the hell are you now?”


End file.
